baby, it's cold inside

So with the price of oil going up, our gas bill has gone up, too. Around Christmas, we decided to turn off our heater and see how long we could last in our apartment without heat. We have been wearing two of everything on average, and sometimes even three sweaters. We have been huddled in front of the space heater, but I know that’s using electricity so I’ve been trying to conserve that as well.

Thanks for the indoor/outdoor thermometer we got from my sister for Christmas, I have been keeping an eye on the temperature. It’s hovered around 60 degrees inside, and I told myself that if it ever got too cold for us even with extra clothes and blankets, then we would turn on the heater again.

Yesterday morning, we woke up and it was 51 inside. I tried it for a short while, but soon gave in and turned on the heater. What a difference turning it up to 65 has been!! (Our thermostat is messed up, so we can’t put it lower than 65.) It’s really taken the edge off the cold we feel inside.

Anyways, all this is to say… A few days ago (before we turned the heater on), we had someone come over. He complained to Paul about how cold he was, and when we set him in front of the space heater with a blanket he complained that he felt like an old man. Later, Paul and I were talking about it. We don’t know if we should turn on the heater when people come over. I’m concerned that the heater will have to run for several hours just to get up to 65 and then we will waste a lot of money that way. But, how important is it for our guests to be warm? Obviously, we’ll turn on the heat for overnight guests. But for evening guests? Is it worth the money? Should the guests just adjust to our temperature? Should we just not invite anyone over? Does anyone else keep their heat low/off? How do you deal with this?